A physical coding sublayer (PCS) interface included within a device processes data for transmission to, and data that is received from, a physical medium attachment (PMA) coupled to an external device. Such a PCS interface is often designed to support a particular PMA standard and new standards continue to emerge. For example, the 802.3bj Ethernet standard defines a PMA that uses four physical lanes at a line rate of 25.78 gigabits per second (Gbps) each for Pulse Amplitude Modulation 2 (PAM-2). The bandwidth requirements of this and other emerging standards make the design of practical soft IP PCS architectures a challenge.